Seven Lucky St. Patrick's Day Sensory & Therapy Toys

By Anna Hazard

Introduction

Here are a selection of inexpensive & easy to make DIY sensory toys that have a St. Patrick's day theme (which includes rainbows, pots of gold, shamrocks & clover, as well as other suitably green tinted recipes & tutorials). Crafts range from various varieties of doughs suitable for tactile, olfactory, and gustatory stimulation as well as visual bottles, bags, and balls for more convenient and less messy play.
 
In particular, sensory toys are recommended for their therapeutic effect on kids, seniors, caregivers and others in need of stress relief, patients with dementia or Alzheimer's, as well as those with arthritis and other hand issues.

St. Patrick's Day Slime

Slimes tend to be the most popular form of do-it-yourself sensory toys as they are easy to make with common ingredients, are one of the softest varieties to manipulate and thus are suitable for even the weakest hand grips, and tend to stay in one mass instead of breaking into multiple parts like other types of doughs.
 
Most slimes use saline, borax, glue, or liquid starch as their main base with a variety of materials such as food coloring, glitter, or confetti for decoration.

• St. Patrick's Day Simple Slime
• St. Patrick’s Day Glitter Slime
• Super Satisfying St. Patrick's Day Slime
• Pot of Gold St. Patrick's Day Slime

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St. Patrick's Day Fluff

A lighter, creamier, and downright fluffier variety of sensory slime, this is the softest sensory toy available and is a particular favorite for younger toddlers or those with weakened hand grips and dexterities that might make manipulating denser doughs more difficult. Unlike normal slimes, fluffs tend to be easier to break apart and leave more of a residue which will require longer clean-up.
 
In addition to slime ingredient basics (such as baking powder, glue, saline, and borax), fluffs will generally require an additional softener such as shaving cream.
 

• St. Patrick's Day Fluff
• St. Patrick’s Day Fluffy Slime
• Leprechaun Boogers for St Patrick’s Day
• Rainbow Unicorn Fluff

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St. Patrick's Day Putty

Due to its colloidal nature (more liquid and soft when not manipulated, more dense and solid when pressure is applied) putties tend to be the sensory dough of choice when it comes to hand therapy for resistive hand, finger, and wrist exercises. Thus this tends to be the sensory toy of choice for seniors with arthritis, office workers with carpal tunnel's syndrome, and others who may have hand strength or dexterity issues.
 
Putties tend to use base ingredients similar to slimes such as glue, borax, and liquid starch with a higher solid to liquid ratio.
 

• St. Patrick's Day Edible Putty
• Rainbow Putty [Silly | Thinking]
• Green Glow in the Dark Putty
• Peppa Mint Putty

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St. Patrick's Day Dough

Here are a selection of green and gold themed sensory dough recipes for a festive St. Patrick's Day flair. Basic doughs are a therapy staple, popular as both stress busters and fine motor & hand strength treatments in kids to seniors. The ability for doughs to more easily break down into smaller parts makes them suitable for forming more complex shapes, but may also require more extended clean-up afterwards. However, basic doughs tend to leave less residue behind than slimes and fluffs due to their denser surface.
 
Unlike commericial varieties such as Play-Doh, do-it-yourself doughs tend to be made from more natural or edible ingredients such as flour, salt, vegetable oil, and cream of tartar.
 

• Sparkly Lime Jello Play Dough
• Leprechaun Gold Play Dough
• St. Patrick’s Day DIY Shamrock Play Dough
•  St. Patrick's Day Playdough

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St. Patrick Day Sensory Bottle

One of the most popular non-dough forms of sensory toy, this variation of stress relief tends to focus on visual and auditory stimulation instead of tactile, olfactory, or gustatory. Sensory bottles are more often found as decorative elements (such as lava lamps, water wheels, or liquid motion timers) and are favored as on-the-go or travel calm down trinkets since they are more self contained and less liable to produce messes than other toys.
 
Do-it-yourself varieties of sensory bottles tend to be far more affordable than their commercial alternatives as they use inexpensive and common materials such as upcycled empty bottles, glue, hair gel, and small decorations such as coins, glitter, sequins, and liquid paint.
 

• Easy St. Patrick’s Day Sensory Bottles
• Rainbow Discovery Bottle
• St. Patrick's Day Fool's Gold Sensory Bottle
• St. Patrick's Day Sensory Bottles

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St. Patrick's Day Sensory Bag

Sensory Bags are another on-the-go sensory toy option that provides the visual stimulation often found within sensory bottles along with the tactile stimulation provided by doughs (all within a closed container that will keep messes and clean-up to a minimum). Sensory Bags tend to be popular for younger children as well as Alzheimer's and dementia patients who can benefit from the visual & tactile sensory input combination.
 
Besides the sealed & waterproof outer pouch and suspension solution (such as hair gel, shaving cream, flour & water), sensory bags tend to use a variety of inexpensive materials that range from soft & squishy to hard & dense in order to provide a wider range of tactile experiences.
 

• St. Patrick's Day Sensory Squish Bag
  
• Rainbow in a Bag
  
• Gold Dementia Sensory Pouch
  
• St. Patrick's Day Sensory Bag

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St. Patrick's Day Stress Balls & Squishies

The most popular and ubiquitous of all the stress relief and sensory toys is the basic hand-sized stress ball or squishy. Inexpensive and coming in a wide variety of colors, shapes, and styles, their small size and mess-free containment makes them suitable for any time or place. Depending upon the materials used, their density and resistance can be varied to the most suitable level needed by their individual user.
 
Squishes tend to use solid materials such as foam or sponges as their bases while stress balls tend to have liquid or powder as their main bases (such as glue, hair gel, silicone, starch, flour, baking soda) inside of a pliable, waterproof container such as a balloon. Jelly balls or orbeez are another popular filling for balloon or mesh-style stress ball.
 

• DIY Rainbow Squishy
• Gold Glitter Squishy Stress Ball
• Squishy Mint Chocolate Chip Stress Ball
• DIY Rainbow Stress Ball